This unusual edition of Flotation Device is devoted to indigenous and traditional musics from around the world. A survey of important recent collections of new and historical recordings of non-Western music wherein we marvel at how closely they connect with the rarified creative and improvised music that comprises our usual weekly fare.
We begin in the PNW with Salish social songs before moving south through Central and South America (with stops in the Andes & Amazon), then across the Atlantic to Africa, with an assortment of vocal, flute & percussion music, much of it now endangered. We then cross the Mediterranean to sample archaic Balkan genres before proceeding eastward across the Central Asian steppes to China, Japan & Korea, where we honor the region’s great classical music traditions alongside some aboriginal singing that seems to anticipate Scelsi & Oliveros. Finally, we circle back to Southeast & South Asia, ending with a newly-excavated gem featuring Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
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Flotation Device 2022-04-10: annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Traditional music of the Americas [0:00]
1. [1:56] Roderick Harris: Birthday Chant. From Sotia's Love (self, 2002) with Roderick Harris (voice, drum)
2. [6:58] Fawn Wood: Mr. Wrong. From Iskwewak: Songs of Indigenous Womanhood (Canyon, 2012) with Fawn Wood (voices, drum)
3. [9:33] Leroy Whitstone: Red Tint. From Nîtisânak: Brothers and Sister (Canyon, 2018) with Northern Cree (voices and drum)
4. [12:51] Hoopa Brush Dance Song. From Musicworks 51 (1990) with Louis Matilton (Hupa/Natinook-wa singer). NOTE: Recorded around April 25, 1904 by Charles F. Lummis. Transcribed in 1933 by Harry Partch
5. [14:53] Paraguay: Wyrakamytã Mi (Cardinal bird). From Le Monde des musiques traditionnelles (Ocora, 2017). With Agustin Peralta, Pedro González (vocals, japepo mi drum), Jean-Pierre Estival (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 1995–2000
6. [16:09] Honduras: Agavaraha (Running through Ceiba Town). From Music from All Corners of the World (Caprice, 2020) with Lanigi Mua, Torbjörn Samuelsson (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 1999. Garifuna music
7. [19:49] Ecuador: Convenio. From Music from All Corners of the World (as above) with Los Tucumbi, Torbjörn Samuelsson (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 1993
8. [23:13] Kuikuro people (Brazil): Tikankginhü - Blowing Dance. From Le Monde des musiques traditionnelles (as above) with Jakalu, Jumu, Kajutaha (kagutu flutes), Didier Demolin (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 2006⠀
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SET 2: Africa [26:01]
1. [30:10] South Sudan: Kpaningbo (Xylophone). From The Rough Guide to African Beats (Rough Guide, 2020) with Wayo (percussion ensemble). NOTE: Recorded outside Juba in 2013
2. [34:29] Northern Ghana: You Can't Escape Death. From Funeral Songs (Glitterbeat, 2020) with Fra Fra quartet (voices, two-string Kologo, rattles)
3. [38:02] Ouldémé people (Cameroon): Zavan (Mil Mûr). From Le Monde des musiques traditionnelles (as above) with female villagers of Dibon, Mandara Mountains (flutes, voices), Nathalie Fernando (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 1994. Polyphonic flute music with a repeating meter of 15 fast beats
4. [42:18] Ethiopia: Washint Instrumental. From Ritual Music of Ethiopia (Folkways, 1973) with Bebere Zenier, Asgerum Gebere, Beyene Hafte (Tigre flute players from Axum). NOTE: Polyphonic flute music
5. [46:31] Burundi: Chant À Voix Chuchotée Et Cithare Inanga. From Le Monde des musiques traditionnelles (as above) with François Muduga (whispered song, inanga), Michel Vuylsteke (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 1967
6. [52:09] Uganda: Etooke (The Banana). From Music from All Corners of the World (as above) with The Planets, Torbjörn Samuelsson (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded November 1995 in Kampala
7. [56:09] Outro⠀
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SET 3: Eurasia [1:00:13]
1. [1:01:28] Albania: Vallja e sokoleshës. Koko sokolice (The Brave Woman's Dance). From Music from All Corners of the World (as above) with Albanian Group Besa, Stjefan Ujkic (flute, leader), Torbjörn Samuelsson (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 2004 in Montenegro
2. [1:03:36] Turkey: Folk Tune on the Bağlama. From Music from All Corners of the World (as above) with Aşık Daimi (baǧlama), Deben Battacharya (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded 1973
3. [1:05:57] Xiao Wang: The Eastern Nightmare 東方的夢魘. From The Son of Black Horse River (WV Sorcerer Productions, 2020) with Xiao Wang 王嘯 (vocals, dombra), Wu Junde 吳俊德 (tanbur, chorus), Obul 吾不力 (percussion). NOTE: Recorded 2007
4. [1:14:55] Guangxi: Gathering Joy. From Folk Music of China 4: Folk Songs of Guangxi (Naxos World Music, 2020) with He Lanjuan, He Guimi (voices), Li Zhao (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded June 2011 at Jiangfeng Village, Libo County, Qiannan Bouyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province. Example of diaphonic singing
5. [1:16:20] Dai people (China): Zhang Ha narrative song accompanied by bamboo instrument. From Folk Music of China 11: Folk Songs of the Dai and Hani Peoples (Naxos World Music, 2021) with Bo Shuang and student, Li Zhao (recording engineer). NOTE: Example of heterophony between voice and instrument⠀
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SET 4: East, Southeast and South Asia [1:19:55]
1. [1:23:55] Bunun people: Pray for the Harvest of Millet. From Folk Music of China 5: Aboriginal Folk Songs of Taiwan (Naxos World Music, 2020) with male villagers from Luona Tribe, Xinyi, Nantou County
2. [1:28:29] Korea: Shin-Gosahn Taryong. From Excavated Shellac: An Alternate History of the World's Music (Dust-to-Digital, 2020) with Park Booyong (gisaeng). NOTE: Recorded 1932
3. [1:31:30] Japan: Empty Bell/Empty Sky (excerpt), Kokuu (traditional honkyoku). From The Legacy of Myoonten (ArcMusic, 2020) with Yamato Ensemble, Hibino Norihiko (engineer)
4. [1:36:00] Bali: Gilak Melasti. From Gamelan Beleganjur and the Music of the Ngaben Funerary Ritual in Bali (Akuphone, 2017) with Beleganjur Dharma Shanti, Vincenzo Della Ratta (recording). NOTE: Recorded 2011. Latter-day processional gamelan genre
5. [1:42:11] Madagascar: Rakoto O!. From Excavated Shellac: An Alternate History of the World's Music (as above) with Rakotondrasoa, Manjakaray (Malagasy sodina flutes and amponga-be drum). NOTE: Recorded early 1950s
6. [1:45:02] Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Biba Sada Dil Mor De. From Live at WOMAD 1985 (Real World, 2019) with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (qawwali singing) and ensemble. Recorded July 20, 1985 at WOMAD festival, Essex, purportedly Khan's first performance for a non-Asian audience
Photo credits: Northern Cree via the artists, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan via Wikimedia Commons, Ecuador musicians via Caprice Records, Fawn Wood via the artist, Aşık Daimi via Wikimedia, Ouldémé Cameroon flute players by Nathalie Fernando-Marandola, Gamelan beleganjur by Maturnuwun, Roderick Harris via the artist, Bunun people by Torii Ryūzō, Fra Fra via Glitterbeat Records, Wang Xiao by Li Ming, South Sudan xylophone via World Music Network, Kuikuro flute players by Wilfred Paulse